Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-12-29
A SACRAMENTO AUTHOR.
Warm Encomium Upon Book and Writer
by Highest American Authority.

Warm Encomium Upon Book and Writer
by Highest American Authority.
The last number of the american LaU
Rerietc, the leadiog law periodical of the
United States. with offices at st. Louis,
London. New York and Boston, and
whose circulation in England is almost as
large as in this country, has an editorial on
" How to Write Law Book" and in it
speaks in complimentary terms of Sacra-
mento law writer. II says of Mr.. Devlin's
recert treatise on the transfer of title to
real property:
We believe that the excellent treatise
OF Mr.. Devlin on the law of deeds is the
flrst effort of that gentlemen in the line of
legal authorship. We hope that it will
not be the last. Its merits are of high
order, and glance over the authors pre-
face shows why this is So The author,
before commencing TO write this work, or.
at least, before completing it, had given
careful attention to the elements which go
TO make up good American law book,
and had arrived at some very iudicious
conclusions upon that subject
Upon a question of great delicacy, and
and one which involves some difference of
professional opinion, Mr.. Devlin thus ex-
presses himself: Where a divergence of
opinion prevails among different Courts,
the author ought to endeavor to find the
fundamental principle by which they may
be harmonized, or, failing III that, ought to
state what, after careful examination of
the divergent authorities, he considers to
be the correct rule. If he has done his
work faithfully, his view, writing as
he does from an impartial standpoint
ehnirlG NJ no off her. oil
is very sound conception Of the duty of
law writer in such cases. If, after exam
lining all the arguments which are pre-
sented pro and con in mass of divergent
judicial opinions, law writer is not COM
petent to express valuable opinion as to
what should be regarded as the true rule.
he has not sufficient capacity for the office
which he undertakes to fill. Il is safe for
him to feel that, after making such an ex-
animation, he knows more about the ques-
ton than any Judge, in the haste of his
official work, ordinarily can learn about it.
Another conception of Mr.. Devlin is
stated in the following language: THE
work should state also what the Courts have
decided; for, however illogical the conclu-
sions reached by a particular Court may be,
the rule announced has the force of law in
the State in which the decision is pro-
nOunced. There can seldom be, in actual
practice much dispute over well-settled
propositions. The difficulty which besets
the Court in the decision of controversy,
or practitioner in giving counsel, is the
application of principle TO 4 state of facts.
Hence, a textbook should not only state
bare legal propositions, but should illus
trate them with instances in which they
have been applied" This could not have
been better said. The fault of several emf
nent American lawwriters is the almost
total absence of illustration. They deal in
abstract principles and in legal theories
merely. But a naked legal rule in the
hands OF practitioner, without knowledge
of the cases where it may or may not be
applied, is like an edged tool in the hands
of child. Mr.. Devlin has we'll said that
the difficulty which besets Judges and prac-
titioners lies not in understanding the lead
ing principles of law, but in applying them.
Many of the rules of law are checks upon,
qualifications of, or exceptions to other
rules. The real boundaries of the rule
the cases wherein it may be applied and the
cases wherein the qualifying or exceptional
rule must operate-furnish the pitfalls
where most of the mistakes of good Judges
and lawyers are made.
Mr.. Deylin also tells us, in the following
language, how he has dealt with another
difficulty which perplexes the law-writer
Then, again the multiplicity of reports
and the difficulty, save in large cities, of
gaining access to them ali, should induce
an author to lay before his reader, when
ever the Importance of the principle I'M
der discussion is sufficient to warrant it,
that part of the language of the Court per-
tinent to the point consideed-not only
as an aid to the busy lawyer but as
a means by which the writer's conclu-
sions may be verified This conclusion is
a sound one. Writers like Blackstone and
Kent, whose subjects were very comprehen-
siye-that of the former covering the entire
field Of the English law and that of the
latter covering the field of American sub
jective law, except the law of crimes-were
unable to indulge, to any considerable ex-
tent, in quotations even from the greatest
judicial opinions. But the best modern
writers upon special titles of the law, such
as Story and Sedgwick in this country, and
st. Leonards, Lindley and Benjamin, in
England, have frequently enriched and il
Illustrated their text by extracts from Judi
cial opinions. But, obviously. a iudicious
law writer will do this sparingly. He must
be conservative, so to speak, in the matter.
He must do this, as Mr. Devlin well says,
only when the importance of the principle
under discussion is sufficient to warrant it,
and then he must give "only that part of
the language of the Court pertinent to the
point considered" He must, we venture to
add, conine these quotations not only to
the most important questions, but to the
opinions of the highest Courts and of the
most eminent Judges, and then only in the
best considered cases. Within these limits
occasional extracts from the opinions of
such Judges as Marshall, Kent, Shaw, Mil
Ter, Dillon or Brewer, may be INDUCED in.
Mr.. Devlin need not have closed this in
teresting preface with the usual stale apol-
ogy, beginning with the words: " If it shall
do naught towards giving clearer concep-
ton of the law on the important subject of
transferring titles to real estate, yet in the
hope" etc. 1t is safe to say that when he
laid down his pen he knew more about the
law on this subject than any living man.
And it was unbeconing in him to express
the fear that such long, laborious and dis
eliminating research as the two volumes
present will do nothing toward giving
clearer conceptions of the law of which
they treat. Modesty is in general becom-
ing but that excess of it which amounts
to personal humiliation should be avoided.
An author who has given to the profession
such a work NAV well feel proud of the
monument he has built and rather than
apologize in such humble language for its
defects, he is entitled to point with pride to
IFS excellencies. Mr.. Devlin may feel con-
fident that his work will not only lead to
clearer conceptions of the law relating to
the transfer of title to real estate but that
many of his suggestions will result in the
improvement of the law itself and there is
probably no branch Of the law which needs
more radical improvement than this.
SOCIAL AND PERSONAL.
Ben True came down from Chico yes